Nha Trang

We arrived in Nha Trang early in the morning, checked in to our hotel and went to the beach straight away. It was great knowing that we had absolutely nothing to do for the entire day except for laze around on the beach. Since we arrived so early the beach was empty and quiet and we enjoyed many hours just lying there, swimming, sleeping and tanning (in Marcel's case burning).

Once we got hungry we decided to go to the supermarket and buy ingredients to make ourselves sandwiches to eat at the beach, supplemented with a beer and some fruit. In the evening we went for a nice dinner and realised that our supermarket experience cost us twice that amount... no more supermarket for lunch!

The next day we spent at the beach again - this time having a nice fresh lobster for lunch at the beach. Yummy! In the evening we took the night train to Danang, to be transferred straight to Hoi An.

Saigon a.k.a. Ho Chi Minh City

The drive from Chau Doc to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) takes you through the Mekong Delta where towns are situated directly on the river banks and boats are constantly on the move with goods or people. We had to cross the river with the ferry, and had to wait for about an hour to get on because it was so crowded (and they had more than one ferry going at the same time). The landscape is made up of water or rice fields - and this stretches for kilometers on end! All the people seem to have a purpose and are pursuing some sort of work/acitivity. In comparison to Cambodia there seems to be much more activity and more people out on the streets. When we drove through the countryside in Cambodia you could hardly see anybody working in the fields; instead many could be seen lying in hammocks in their homes. Somehow Vietnam just looks more productive - whether that really is the case or not, I do not know.

Arriving in HCMC is an experience in itself; all of a sudden there is a great influx in the number of mopeds speeding around and the buildings go from simple huts to huge skyscrapers in a modern city. The contrast to the countryside is huge! When walking around the city it is clear that there is a very large amount of development going on, most of the old buildings are being knocked down and redeveloped. The government relocates the tenants and gives them 1/5th of the market price of the value for their properties and then redevelops the land into modern office buildings or shopping complexes and some apartments. The classes of people also vary greatly - some walk - or rather drive - around in designer clothes and go to expensive places, where others seem like they can barely make a living. I think that's probably really a sign of the speed with which the city has developed and how quickly the economic position of Vietnam has risen. Maybe a bit too fast for its people to keep up?

Walking in central Saigon is like walking on any European high end shopping street, with all the high end fashion stores lining the road. The difference being in the huge amount of mopeds flying by from all directions, the odd old house that's still there and communist flags everywhere. It's quite funny if you think of it - this capitalist communism! The central market is a reminder of what Asian culture is like - with lots of food stalls in the centre. The stalls themselves, however, seem to solely cater towards tourists and so being hassled is inevitable. We did have some good food at the market though!

Our second day in HCMC started early, with our guide picking us up in the morning for a walking tour of the city. We started off with a walk through the park where we found many people doing their morning exercise - there is free open air gym equipment and it seems that there are many classes, raning from dance to tai chi. Our guide told us that the majority of the people who come to exercise are middle aged women who want to make sure they still look good for their husbands so that they don't stray. I must say that there were quite a lot of men there too though! Daily exercise seems to be a common thing in Vietnam and is integrated into most people's lifestyles (at least in the city). After walking through the park and feeling bad about myself for not doing any exercise at all, we walked on towards the War Memorial Museum.

The museum is full of Vietnam war memorabilia, including posters of solidarity from all over the world. The American and Vietnamese war planes and tanks were also on show - the inequality in terms of military strength was crazy. Of course the museum is also filled with many stories of the families that were affected and the long lasting effects of agent orange. These can still be witnessed today in people on the street with a variety of  genetic deformities that were clearly passed on by parents who had been exposed to it. Reading all these stories and seeing the pictures honestly made me feel quite sick and I eventually had enough and left.

We then walked to the Reunification Palace where the Southern Vietnamese ran their government from until the Northern troops invaded, took over the South and then unified the country again. Our guide did mention that there are still significant discords between the Northerners and Southerners and that they generally did not like each other. He married a Northern girl (he did not know that she was from the North until they were getting engaged); it took him two years to convince his parents that it was ok for him to marry her and that it made a difference that she had grown up in the South. This just goes to show that although the country is officially unified, the people - or at least many of them - still don't identify with the reunification.

Also in central HCMC are the Notre Dame de Saigon church that was built by the French, who solely used materials that they had imported from France, and the Post Office, also a French building that is still used today.

When we finished the walking tour, we checked out of our hotel and went and found a nice local place to have lunch. As usual, the food was great and we ate a lot! We then went and relaxed in the park for a while, getting back to the hotel just before it started storming. In the evening we caught the night train to Nha Trang.

Off to Vietnam!

We left Sihanoukville towards Phnom Penh the next day in the afternoon. We spent the night in Phnom Penh and took a speed boat on the river to Vietnam. The weather was great and we sat on the deck enjoying the view and the weather for most of the ride to the Cambodian border.

All along the river banks there are villages and houses and little wooden boats used to transport the people and their goods. The river itself is probably not the cleanest - at least not as far as can be determined from its colour.

Crossing the border into Vietnam the boat stops on the Cambodian side, everyone gets out and gets an exit stamp in their passport. Then you get back in the boat and 100 meters further, you dock again and hand-in your passport to the Vietnamese immigration officer. We had to wait there for a bit for all the passports and visas to be checked, and then got back in the boat and off we went, as soon as the driver had exchanged the Cambodian flag for the Vietnamese one.

Funnily, as soon as we entered Vietnam it started pouring and our deck-chilling session was brought to an abrupt end. The boat ride to Chau Doc took another two hours from the border and the similar scenes as those in Cambodia could be seen by the river. I did find, however, that the houses seemed less sturdily built in Vietnam and that somehow it seemed poorer.

When we arrived in Chau Doc we were met by our guide and he took us to our hotel. We then went to find food and ended up eating Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup - usually with beef) at a street stand in the centre. Chau Doc, is not a very big place - actually it's quite small, so there really was not much to see or do there. After having our dinner, we wandered through the market for a while and then went to sit in the local bia (beer) place next to our hotel. We had a few beers and played cards and eventually went to bed.

We ended up paying the equivalent of 6 Euros for two meals, a pack of cigarettes, two packets of crisps and nine beers. Quite a bargain, we thought. Obviously these prices cannot be expected of the cities and places frequented more regularly by tourists.

Beach day in Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville, on Cambodia's coast is a small, sleepy beach town that is approximately 4 hours drive from Phnom Penh. There are lots of little hotels along the beach and many beach restaurants and bars. We did not do anything but sleep on the beach, eat, swim, people watch and relax.

At the moment Sihanoukville is still rather tranquil and quiet, but even here it is clear that mass tourism is on its way. Already one of the islands just off the main land is being developed into a huge resort by Russians; the strip of locally owned hotels and hostels will probably be bought out soon and replaced by large "more western" hotels. The beginnings of this are already visible, and the amount of construction for such a small town is incredible.

Currently many backpackers roam around there, and take a day or two just to relax by the sea. The locals are very friendly and most hawkers are children. What is evident is that there is a lot of sex tourism; apparently also child sex tourism is prevalent, though I did not see any signs thereof (luckily).

Children do, however, work a lot - especially selling things to tourists. This was obvious in Phnom Penh too. I spoke to a girl who explained that she went to school in the morning and then came straight to the beach after lunch to start selling bracelets. When I asked her what her parents and siblings did, she replied that her mother was sick (I think), that her siblings had disabilities and that her father was sleeping and would pick her up at 10 pm. Obviously I do not know to what extent this story is true, but in any case, she seems to be the one working and going to school, while her family is all at home. I'm assuming that most of the other kids have similar stories; or they're all orphans and belong to a group like the one in Slumdog Millionaire. Whatever the case may be, I find it sad that children of such a young age are forced to live a life like this; don't get me wrong, I have nothing against children working a bit for pocket money in their holidays or whatever, but not on a daily basis and as a way of supporting their families - that's not a child's job.

Through all this however, the children and people in general are all friendly, open and fun-loving. They all seem happy with their lives - probably also as a result of them not knowing any better. It's great to have been able to experience this as it is, I can see the attitude of the people changing once Sihanoukville becomes more of a tourism hotspot.

On another note, we had a great day at the beach, ate some great seafood and drank some nice cocktails on the beach whilst watching an amazing lightning storm over the sea. Of course we ended up walking home in the rain - just like the three days before that.

A day around Phnom Penh

We had one full day in Phnom Penh and decided to make the best of it by organising a tuk tuk driver to take us around the sights that we still wanted to see. This included the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, the National Museum and the Royal Palace.

Choeung Ek

Choeung Ek is now a genocide memorial centre, where the victims of the Khmer Rouge's atrocities are commemorated. This area is known as the Killing Fields, since the Khmer Rouge brought their prisoners here to be executed - they did so by bludgeoning them with any instruments they could find, such as hoes and shovels; they smacked childrens' heads against trees to kill them. This was done in order to save the few bullets they had. The various mass graves can still be seen and still now bones and remnants surface after rains; these are collected and kept in containers for all to see.

Perhaps the most impressive sight of the memorial centre is the stupa that was built by the government to house the bones, clothes and skulls that were found in the mass graves. This stupa is 17 levels high and each level is filled.

Walking around the area of the killing fields, one can see many indentions in the ground - these were all mass graves. The small museum exhibits the tools used for killing the prisioners and gives some information about the main characters involved in the Pol Pot regime. There is also short film - though this was not as informative as it could have been.

Having been to Choeung Ek, the real atrocities perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge really become apparent and it can only lead one to compare the genocide with the Holocaust during the WWII. It's quite disgusting and makes it all the more astonishing how the Cambodians can still be such happy and friendly people today (at least on the outside).

The National Museum

The National Museum is to be found in central Phnom Penh and is a wonderful old, red building with a nice little garden surrounding it and a peaceful courtyard in the centre. The museum houses many statues and statuettes from the various temples around Angkor and the rest of the country. The statues are relatively well kept and most of them depict Buddha or Hindu Gods. I must say that what I found most impressive were the professional pictures taken of the temples of Angkor.

The Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda

The Royal Palace looks out over the point at which the rivers surrounding Phnom Penh converge (also the reason it was built there). The palace is still in use, with only some parts of the gardens and the buildings being accessible to the public. It being a royal palace, the decadence is overwhelming - everything is gold-plated and intricately carved and kept in great state. The main reception room is a very long room at the end of which is the throne upon which the King will be seated to receive his guests. The walls are finely decorated and the detail is impressive. Surrounding the palace are immaculately tended to gardens that complete the image of symmetry in the whole.

In a separate courtyard from the Royal Palace, stands the Silver Pagoda - so called because the floor is silver plated. Other than that, it now contains innumerable statues and statuettes. The pagoda itself is quite pretty, but nothing really special as such. Around the back of the pagoda stands a significant model of Angkor Wat, which in itself is worth seeing; also, when leaving the complex, there is a video which gives a lot of explanation as to the temples of Angkor and is worthwhile watching if you have the time.



Food 

The food in Cambodia - seafood, vegetables and meat alike - is gorgeous! Until this point we have not eaten anything that did not taste wonderful, though we did realise/find that eating at really local places is cheaper (obviously), but also better - so that was the plan from that day onwards.

Phnom Penh



The only skyscraper in Phnom Penh

 We left Siem Reap early in the morning and took a bus for the 6 hour journey to Phnom Penh. Upon arrival we were met by our guide, who took us to the hotel, where we quickly checked in and then met our guide for a walking tour around the city.

The first thing that caught my eye about Phnom Penh is that it looked very underdeveloped for a capital city. I expected there to be more tall buildings and maybe some more modern architecture (comparable to Bangkok); this, however, is not the case. Phnom Penh's buildings are still old and many dilapidated, however, the city has a great vibe. It lies on the banks of three rivers - the Mekong, the Tonle Sap and the Tonle Bassac - which means that there is a nice promenade next to the river, inevitably full of hotels and bars. Upon walking around, it becomes clear that Phnom Penh is being developed very quickly and there is more and more foreign investment in the country. There are building sites everywhere and it seems that modern, glass skyscrapers and malls are things that will change the skyline and atmosphere of Phnom Penh in the very near future.

We saw the central market, a building built by the French in 1937 and kept in good condition by the Cambodians. The central market seems to contain everything from food and souvenirs to jewellery and clothes. 

We further saw Wat Phnom - the temple on the hill - after which the city is named. The story of this temple is that a hollowed out tree trunk containing three Buddhas (two made of wood and one of bronze), was found washed onto the banks of the river at exactly this point. The woman who found them then decided to build a hill and a temple at this place and to place the Buddhas in this temple. Now, of course, the temple is still there - the Buddhas are not - and there is a statue commemorating this woman, on the sides of which the story of the temple is depicted.

On our way to the promenade, where our guide would leave us, we passed by the old French colonial post office - which is still being used now. Our guide then proceeded to let us know that the Cambodians try to keep the old French buildings in good condition, but that sometimes (like recently) "the buildings collapse and some people died.. hahaha". We did not quite understand the humour in that statement, but did and still do have fun recounting it. We then spent the evening sitting at a restaurant on the promenade, having great food and just enjoying being in Phnom Penh.

The Temples of Angkor

Angkor was the old capital of Cambodia until it was moved to Phnom Penh. It is estimated that up to 2 million people used to live there. Now the area is a jungle full of temples and surrounded by rice fields. It is clear that everything here is geared towards the tourist industry, with most buildings being hotels, shops, restaurants or bars (except for the outskirts, which is where the locals must live).


We got up nice and early and rented some bicycles so we could get around easily between the various temples. I don't think that we really knew what we were getting ourselves into by deciding to ride bicycles in the heat. In actual fact it turned out quite well, as the roads were good and quite flat and mostly shaded by trees. Using bikes made it easy to stop wherever we wanted to take photos.

First we rode to Angkor Wat, probably the most famous of the temples of Angkor. It was built in the 12^th century and is depicted on the current Cambodian flag. Its five spires are built to represent a closed lotus flower. It’s a shame that the middle spire was being renovated as that took away the possibility of the cliché tourist photo in front of the impressive temple. The temple itself is full of intricate carvings that remind me of the ones I saw in India on the temples there. 

The next temple we rode to was the Bayon temple in the ancient city of Angkor Thom. The Bayon temple was built in the late 12th Century and consists of multiple towers all with serene faces watching over you wherever you walk. The temple was built as the state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII - some say that the faces on the spires are of him in deep meditation. 

Angkor Thom itself contains various smaller shrines and one larger one (Baphuon) which cannot be entered. The area covered by the city is quite large and must have housed a significant community during its peak period. 

From Angkor Thom we rode on towards Ta Prohm, also known as the jungle temple where Tomb Raider was filmed. On our way we stopped at Ta Keo a smallish temple in the area that it covers, but with an extremely high spire which can be climbed, giving a view of the jungle surrounding the temple. The climb up was already a challenge, but getting down was more of a nightmare, especially seeing that the steps were very regular and wide!

Ta Prohm, the jungle temple, is impressive in showing the force of nature. Massive trees and their roots are intertwined with the temple buildings, making for impressive pictures and scenery. The beauty of the temple lies in this mixture and understandably the temple itself is nowhere near what I would imagine to be its glory of old.

After having cycled around and seen the above, we were quite exhausted and started on our 11km bike ride back to the hotel, which we reached at about 4 pm, at which point we realised that we hadn't eaten since breakfast and that we had been either walking or cycling since 9.30 am - we found that quite impressive. So yea, pot noodles and a swim were in order and then dinner and drinks later.

We were then ready for a fresh start in the morning by bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.

Welcome to Cambodia

We got up early to catch our mini-bus to Cambodia and had a comfortable journey. Before the border we stopped and the idea was to change buses to a Cambodian company. However, when we got off the bus we were told we were ‘special’ and that we hadn’t booked the rest of the trip to Siem Reap, so the trip ended there for us. We knew that we were supposed to be transferred all the way to our hotel, so we figured our guy would be waiting on the other side of the border. This meant that we hoisted our packs and took it upon us to walk 1.5km to the border and cross the border on foot. I don’t remember the last time (if ever) that I had to cross a border on foot! Quite an experience.

Once on the other side it was stunning how friendly the people became all of a sudden! The Cambodians are such soft spoken people. One of the people there let us use his mobile to call the company, from which we found out that there had been a miscommunication between the two offices and so we should just take a taxi for the 150km to Siem Reap, that will be paid upon arrival. So yea, after crossing the border on foot, we then got into an air-conditioned taxi that took us straight to our hotel.

We checked in and spent the afternoon by the pool, walked into the centre for dinner and enjoyed the first of many amazing Cambodian dishes. We found a nice bar where we had some drinks before taking a tuk tuk back to the hotel, ready for an early start in the morning to discover the temples of Angkor.  

Bangkok Revisited

I arrived in Bangkok early in the morning and took it upon me to find a nice double room away from the noise of the main backpacker street of Khao San. This mission went quite quickly and I was happy to shower and rest for a while before getting some food and meeting-up with Marcel, as well as two other friends who happened to be in Bangkok for two days too. Yay! Mini-reunion! We just went for a few drinks – that may have turned to too many and just chilled out and enjoyed each others’ company. At some point I went home and Marcel decided to stay on for a while – the result was that he was chased by lady boys and got lost on his way home.

When waking me up to tell me this I was totally confused as to who was in my room and why and also as to what language he was speaking to me. This caused a little confusion until he said my name and things slowly started coming back to me – so yea, I was deep in sleep and am not used to sharing my room anymore!

As was to be expected we spent the next day doing some major chilling-out, any attempt to go and do something more productive (like sightseeing) was also counteracted by the weather, which was telling us to just hang out.

We got a good night’s sleep and got up early the next day to check out and find our pre-booked hotel for the official start of our Cambodia and Vietnam tour. We then made our way to Wat Arun on foot and by water bus, stopping at a street market on the way to get some food. Wat Arun is a temple entirely inlaid with Chinese ceramics that were left as unneeded ballast by the Chinese merchants. These pieces of ceramic are used all over the temple and put together in various designs so that the temple was complete covered. It’s quite an impressive sight!

 Climbing up as far as possible was an experience in itself, with both of us not being the most comfortable climbing up narrow, high and uneven stairs. More difficult than getting up, was actually working up the nerve to climb down! At least we weren't the only ones who didn't find this funny.

In the temple grounds some children playing with their bicylces; they used plastic cups and put them between the back wheel and the bike to make it sound like a motorbike when they rode around. I found it wonderful and so innovative how these little kids of not more than 10 years could take something so simple and have so much fun out of it. It makes me think of children of a comparable age in Europe who cannot be happy with what they have and would never think of doing something like that. They would be much more interested in a new playstation or remote controlled car. It really makes you think about what happiness actually is.

We then went to Wat Pho so that Marcel could see the reclining Buddha. After which we went to Sirocco bar in the Dome – the Hangover II bar – where we enjoyed some nice cocktails and views over Bangkok. We managed to get there in time to get nice views with the daylight and then enjoy the sunset. For those that are interested: the bar really is as nice as it looks in the movie.

A nice few days of beach on the island of Koh Samui

I arrived on the Thai island of Koh Samui directly from Malaysia. After immigration I got a minibus and then a tuk tuk to take me to Lamai, where I had booked into a pretty cool hostel. Upon arrival there I quickly met people who were all going to the full moon party, basically a whole night of drunken mayhem on the beaches of Koh Phanyang. Had it been a day later I would have gone, but I was not at all feeling it that night. I joined the pre-drinking sessions and then the post-party drinking session in the morning when all came back. The day, of course, was spent by most either still totally drunk until the next day, sleeping or walking around like zombies.

The rest of my time in Koh Samui was spent on the beach swimming and sleeping and chilling out and eating. And in this manner the days pass quickly and my three nights passed by without my even realising. Just to illustrate that there is no concept of time when chilling out like this: I only realised on the day that I was leaving that I had been living one hour ahead of everybody else, because I had forgotten to change the time on my clock! I only noticed when I was supposed to be leaving and everyone was saying that it's 9 a.m. and I was convinced that it was 10 a.m.. There were some moments that I found strange, such as that breakfast was supposed to be available until 10 a.m., but in my time it was always available until midday  - which I found very accommodating by the hostel staff (turns out it was available until 11 a.m. - which is also accommodating, but obviously not to the same extent as it would be if it had been midday).

I left Koh Samui yesterday, taking the ferry and then a combination of busses back to Bangkok. I was very sad to leave my best friends in laziness - sun, sea and sand. It would have been great if I had had more time to go island hopping and discover some more great beaches. But now it's back to Bangkok where I will be meeting Marcel - my travel buddy for the next month!

A week of eating and recovery in Malaysia

The first thing I noticed when I looked out of the airplane when we were landing in Kuala Lumpur, was how green it looked. From the air Kuala Lumpur looks like a modern city in the middle of the rainforest! This first impression is exactly what Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding areas are like. Of course the greenery in the central business district is slightly inhibited by the high rise buildings and towers, but still every effort is made to have tropical plants and greenery there too.




I booked a flight to Kuala Lumpur and had organised to stay at a friend's house for the weekend and then head back to Thailand where I'd chill out on the beach. Due to my wonderful friends the stomach worms, I was not feeling too well and have ended up staying here for a week now and have been taken care of wonderfully by my friend and his family, who have been extremely hospitable.

I've experienced the Malaysian clubbing scene and party scene, as well as having been introduced to the culinary highlights of Malaysian-Chinese cuisine (which aparently due to the fact that I don't eat meat I am unable to fully appreciate)! I'm starting to realise that my trip and blog are turning out to be very heavily food related, but in all honesty I'm being introduced to foods that I've never heard and never seen before in my life! It makes me realise that though we have great food in Europe, there's a whole other culinary world out there just waiting to be experienced (there is just too much to even begin writing about here - but wow! The food was amazing).

Eating seems to be a national sport in Malaysia; people eat all the time. Going to the mall, it seems that there are just as many eateries and cafes as there are stores and they are always full, many with queues outside for hours on end! Please note that I was there during Ramadan, so a whole group of people fasting was not even present at these points in time, I can only imagine what it would be like during a normal month of the year.

As regards the partying scene, I have not experienced drinking in the manner that these Malaysians drink ever before. The idea is just to drink. So you'll go out and have a bottle of whiskey and a bucket of beer and just drink it all in shots whilst playing drinking games. I think that the concept of just going out for a beer or a drink in a what I would call "chilled out way" does not exist in Malaysia. Their idea of having a chilled night out is doing exactly what I described before. Then a party night, which I also had the pleasure of experiencing, will involve towers of beer, mutlitple bottles of whiskey, buckets of long island ice tea and shots of tequila and jaeger bombs. Whoever said that asians can't drink was seriously mistaken! Before hitting the club we went to a really nice bar from which the view of the Petronas Towers (Malaysia Twin Towers - the highest buildings in the world until Taipei No. 1 was built) was absolutely stunning, so I did do a bit of conventional sightseeing, in addition to the culinary experience I was having. 

 In addition to the Petronas Towers, my other bit of sight seeing was the mosque in Shah Alam, a huge building, intricately designed. It was not possible to enter the mosque itself, seeing as it was prayer time and it is Ramadan at the moment (though I'm not sure the mosque is open to the general public on any other days either).

We also went to karaoke (and not the dodgy kind), yay!! Apparently when you go to karaoke, you must do one of the following: sing, eat or drink. Normally the choice for me would seem obvious.. drink! But since I was on medication that was out of the question; eating was definitely out of the question, since I was just eating waaaayyy too much! As a result, I had to grace all those present with my wonderful singing, which at least I had the courtesy to warn people of - but even with that warning I feel that my singing was hugely inadequate in comparison to those present, who all seemed to have perfect pitch; at least they were nice about it and made me feel like my performance - thank God I wasn't singing alone - wasn't too bad.